I have a 97 Sh and it started burning oil alittle, which i am told preludes do, but then it started burning a quart every 800 miles! I had the bottom end rebiult under warranty and it still burnt oil. I didnt beat on it at all after the rebiuld. Then Honda sent a short block to replace mine. Just got that done and it still burns oil. The company won't touch my car now untill I remove the AEM CAI, DC Header, and Tanabe racing medalion exhaust. They have been watching it and trying to fix it for almost a year now and it is starting to become a huge bother. Can anyone help me solve my problem? Is it with the head and valves? Could the exhaust and stuff be the real problem? I have other parts that I am keeping off the car because I don't want to have anymore money in it if it is worthless. Thank for any imput.

 

it's not the exhaust or intake, they're full of it. Then again, they're just trying every option to see what it could be. Did they replace the pistons and rings? If so, maybe it could have to do with the valves.

 

to be honest, mine seems to be burning alot more also... it's around the 80,000 mile mark. All I have done is a cat job, intake, exhaust.. it's possible the increased air flow is removing more crankcase blow by, and taking oil from the squirters with it.. but i doubt it. Maybe I'll just stick the factory intake back on and take it in...


[Modified by rjr162, 8:54 PM 12/12/2002]

 

Yeah they replace the whole bottom block with new pistons rings everything. My car had 55,000 miles on it, now after all their "test for consuption" and all their attempts at fixing it I have 75,000 miles on it. I will switch all the stuff back to stock, but I still want to know what they are going to do to it after they realize that isn't the problem...

 

It's not blowby if you just got the pistons and rings replaced, but if you wanna check for it, go to the nearest Auto Zone and buy a little white breather filter, put it on the pcv valve, and put a good many miles on the motor. Then, see if it starts turning dark and oily; if it turns pretty dark, pretty fast, it's more than likely blowby. Is your car dropped, or do you drive it hard? If so, you may have bottomed out and cracked something. Put your car on jackstands and look for any places that are dripping oil. Also, check for gaskets. The valve cover gasket can cause an oil leak, but prob. not enough of one to cause that much consumption. Usually after 100k or so, the gasket in the oil plug/drain thing gets brittle, and can start a slow leak. Just throwin some ideas around...

 

Also, check to see if your car blows blue smoke when you first crank it up in the morning. If so, it's burning oil; otherwise, it's prob. a leak.

 

LudyKrus: I'm probly an idiot, but how would putting a filter on the pcv show anything? The air flows out of the pcv into the IM. Please explain.

I would think its a head problem if its burning still oil. Are you sure its blue smoke?

 

i took the AEM CAI off the intake man. once to check the inside for oil, but it was clean. I have had people drive behind me and they say they dont see smoke out of the exhaust. It does smoke when i go into VTEC for the first time during the drive but no other time after that. I havent been driving it hard because i keep having to re-break in the engine. And I haven't put the spring and shocks on it yet, and i havent bottemed out on anything hard. It doesnt leak oil on the driveway where i park everyday also. The mechanics check all over for signs of leaking but that wasn't it. There is some black dots of oil (or so i think) on the back bumper. It comes off when i clean it but alwasy re-appears. The mechanics thought that it was unburnt oil splattering up from the exhaust, but i dont know where it is coming from.

 

this has been covered before, the piston rings is the problem, Honda released an "updated piston ring" b/c they had so many problems with 5tg gen lude using a lot of oil

 

shouldn't the new short block Honda just gave me a month ago have had the new rings in it? If not what would be the best way to fix this. Should I just say "screw it" and spend the money to have it built up with higher compression pistons &rings?

 

no, the update rings just came out like 6 months ago, and most likely the new shortblock you have was assembled before that

 

Thanks for the info.
You said this was covered before...did the new "updated" rings help whoever else asked this question?

 

i can't remeber

 

My buddy's 98 Type SH had the exact same problem and he had to have his piston rings replaced...so yeah it has to do with that recall from Honda. I think everyone has covered that, but I just happened to know off hand of somebody who had the same problem--that should be more reassuring

 

I don't see how it could be the rings because it was rebiult with new rings and still burnt the exact amount of oil as before, now i have a whole new bottom end and it still burns the same amount as before, if the rings were faulty shouldn't it burn a differnt amount or atleast have held up for a few thousand miles.? i only have 2000 miles on the new short block. The only thing that hasn't been rebiult or changed yet is the head. thanks for the info though....im just at a loss right now.

 

did you check your valve guides or your head gasket?

 

they did not check the valve guides, but i have called two other honda dealers and their service techs thing that might be the prob. along with my father. I told these cheese ***** but they dont want to listen. The head was milled down when the first rebiuld was done and i am assuming they check and replaced the head gasket.

 

Put oil in it every now and then. Forget about it.

 

have them rebuild the head, valve guide seals...

Oh yea, what oil do you use.. I used to burn a lot of Mobil 1 sythetic w/ my old motor, and know tons of others who do as well.. I switched to non synthetic w/ the old motor, didn't burn 1/2 as much...

 

My 00 base goes from burning no oil to lots of oil randomly. There is no smoke of any type on start, idle, hard driving, autoX, you name it. I've put 2L max in between changes (5000km). My compression is very good, so I just check it and deal with it. I have some theories that VTEC xover causes a bit of oil to get burned - I used to have a little puff of smoke at xover, but that's since stopped completely. I couldn't see it, but I noticed it on some video I had of me racing.

Dealer says it's normal, or not abnormal. The good compression is all I care about

 

Since the rebuild and new short block, I have been using regular mobil non-synthetic.

And as for the VTEC x-over idea, I burnt it not using vtec. I didn't bring it into vtec at all during the break in period again. And it doesn't burn a diff. amount each time.....it is always a quart every 800 miles.
Thanks for the info

BTW, Honda318, where are you in NC? I am either moving to the Chapel Hill, or Charlotte area and I was wondering if there were imports down around there or just raised up pickups...


[Modified by linkman18, 2:37 PM 12/14/2002]

 

I have a 92 Lude V-tec with 70k on it. have never added 1 drop as top up. I change every 6 months/6k (whichever first) and use 10w30 Pennzoil. By the way I am in New Zealand.

 

Yeah that was me who had the problems with burning oil a bit ago. Well I still do, and I passed the consumption test, so no free engine work for me. I'll have to do another test when I'm home for the summer when I can burn some serious oil to have this **** fixed.

LinkMan, how easy was it to have your dealer actually do that much engine work for you? I'm under extended warranty till 100k, but it sounds you were under the original warranty so did that help you?

 

Actually I also have the 7 yr 100k extended warranty. And it definately wasn't easy for them to get the work done. My father has some influence with the owner, so that helped out, but they were still ****** to me about it. I just got the car put all back to stock and had them do another oil change, so now with the stock parts on they are going to do another consuption test and if it still burns they are gonna have to figure something else out. They actually brought out my warranty this time and highlighted where it said that if the intake and exhaust were modified it voids the warranty and they were like we should never have touch this car your lucky, put it back to stock and we'll show you that stocks parts dont burn oil...yada yada. so i would put stock parts back on if you have them off. if they figure out what the problem is i'll let you know.

by the way, if anyone sent me a message and i never responded, my bad, i kept closing that stuff thinking it was just pop up window things....sorry, didnt mean to be a dick


[Modified by linkman18, 4:37 PM 12/21/2002]

 

I told you to buy the Integra GSR scotty, but no, i want the prelude. I admit, the SH is supa cleen. just joking with you. late nights at the honda dealership. the good ole days.